Rozala of Italy, countess and regent of Flancers, then queen of the Franks (married 1 April 987)
The year of Rozala of Italy's birth is not certain--she seems to have been born near the middle of the tenth century, likely between 950 and 960. She was the daughter of Berengar II of Ivrea, who ruled as king of Italy during this same decade. Her mother was Willa of Tuscany, daughter of Boso, margrave of Tuscany.*
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| Detail from a late-fifteenth century manuscript portrait of the counts of Flanders and members of theirfamilies buried in St. Peter's Abbey, Ghent |
According to at least one contemporary chronicle, Rozala and her sister were "brought up in the imperial palace by the empress after being brought to Germany." (Although it seems clear that Berengar and his wife had two daughters, the name of Rozala's sister is unknown.)
Given the dates suggested for Rozala's birth, the Holy Roman Emperor would have been Otto I. As a younger man, Berengar, then margrave of Ivrea, had led a revolt against his uncle, then king of Italy--Berengar had been forced to flee, winding up in then King Otto of Germany's court, where he spent several years. Thus Berengar's decision to send his daughters to Otto's imperial court makes political sense.
According to several contemporary chroniclers, it was the emperor who arranged Rozala's marriage to Arnulf II, count of Flanders. Again, however, the dates of this marriage are not clear. According to the Annales Elnonenses Minores (Minor Annals of Elnon, Latin chronicles of the Abbey of Saint-Amand), the marriage took place about 968. By contrast, in his history of medieval Flanders, the historian David Nicholas claims that the marriage took place in 976, when Arnulf reached the age of majority. (Arnulf had been born c. 960, making him sixteen in 976).
Before Arnulf's death on 30 March 987, Rozala had given birth to two children, a son named Baldwin, born in 980, and a daughter, Mathilde, whose date of birth is unknown. After Arnulf's death, Baldwin succeeded his father as count of Flanders, with Rozala acting as regent for her minor son.
Early in 988, Rozala was married for a second time, to Robert the Pious, the son and "co-ruler" of Hugh Capet, king of the Franks. (To reinforce his kingship, Hugh Capet advocated for his son's "co-kingship," a way of reinforcing the legitimacy of this new dynasty.) The marriage was evidently a way of rewarding the Flemish for their support when Hugh seized power in 987. As for Rozala--hstorian Jan Dhondt has argued that the widowed Rozala would likely have been "pusshed" (poussée) into this marriage by her Flemish advisors, fearing that Flanders, assailed on all sides by more powerful neighbors, would crumble.
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| Fifteenth-century manuscript containing portraits of the counts of Flanders (Ghent, Ghent City Museum [STAM], Inv. 779) |
At some point, Rozala's name seems to have been changed, never mind all the variations in the spellings of Rozala (Rozela, Rosala, Rosela, for example).
According the author of the contemporary Vita Sancti Bertulfi, after her marriage to Robert, Rozala became Suzanne (or Susanna or Susanne): "post mortem Arnulfi . . . principis, Roberto Regi Francorum nupsit et Susanna dicta" ("after the death of Prince Arnulf, she married Robert, king of the Franks, and was called Susanna") As research by the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy illustrates, however, contemporary records refer to Rozala as "Susanna" before her marriage to Robert.
No matter when Rozala became Suzanne, her second marriage would not turn out well for her. By 991, Robert had separated himself from Rozala/Suzanne. During the brief years of their marriage, Rozala/Suzanne had not borne a child, and according to Robert (and many accounts of Robert's complicated marital disputes), that was because she was too old.
Here's where Rozala's date of birth becomes crucial. The exact birth date of Robert "the Pious" (got to love his soubriquet) is also unknown--if you look at the entry in Wikipedia, for example, the date is given as "c. 972." And this date is more or less accepted by many historians, including the nineteenth-century Chrétien Pfister, in his Études sur le règne de Robert le Pieux (996-1031): while Robert's exact date of birth is not clear, he was known to be "about sixty" when he died on 20 July 1031, suggesting he was born about 970. Pfister also claims that, when Robert separated from Rozala/Suzanne (Pfister says this occurs in 989), the young man was "in his nineteenth year."
But how old was Rozala when Robert decided he had to get rid of her? She had married Arnulf of Flanders (born c. 960) in 976, when he was about sixteen. Would Rozala have been similarly aged (born c. 960), or a decade older (born c. 950)? In other words, would Rozala have been about sixteen years old, like her husband, when she was first married, or would she have been twenty-six?
More critically for Rozala/Suzanne, how old would she have been when Robert claimed that she was too old to bear children? In his Histories, the monk Richerus of Reims says that poor Robert is "in the prime of his youth" when he marries, while his wife was "too old" (and also Italian . . . ). For his part, Pfister sniffs at the marriage between Rozala, "the old widow" (la vieille veuve), and Robert. He is tied to an aged crone, a woman who is much older than he (beaucoup plus âgée que lui) while he is a man "in the springtime of youth" (dans le printemps de sa jeunesse). By the mid-twentieth century, the historian Alexander Vasiliev would casually refer to Rozala as an "elderly widow" at the time of her marriage.
What can we say about the characterizations of Rozala/Suzanne and her marriage? If we use the earliest suggested date for Rozala's birth, 950, she would be some twenty years older than Robert, who was born in 970. If she was born around the year 960, she would have been about ten years older than he was. If Robert was eighteen or so when he married, Rozala could have been anywhere between twenty-eight and thirty-eight.
More recently, Dhondt has suggested a likely date of around 962 for Rozala's birth: "She was at least ten years older than Robert, perhaps fifteen" (Elle avait aux moins dix ans de plus que Robert, peut-être quinze). In Dhondt's view, the age difference was not a relevant consideration for Robert's father, Hugh Capet, who had arranged his son's marriage solely for its political advantage, the alliance giving the Franks a level of influence and authority in Flanders. Interestingly, Dhondt suggests that the union may never have been consummated. Whatever Rozala's age at the time of her second marriage (and whether it was ever consummated), when Robert decided to get rid of Rozala/Suzanne, he kept a significant part of her dowry, including the castle of Montreuil.**
According to Richerus of Rheims, when Robert wouldn't return the castle to her, Rozala built another one nearby. After her separation from Robert, she returned to Flanders, where she was reunited with her son, Baldwin IV, who had by now reached his age of majority. Baldwin managed to recover several of the territories that had been given to his mother on the occasion of her marriage to Robert, including Artois and Ostrevant. Rozala also became one of Baldwin's "principal advisors." A charter dated 6 June 995l notes that, along with her son Baldwin, "Queen Susanna (Susanna regina)" made donations to St. Peter's Abbey (Ghent), for the soul of her daughter, Matilda. on 1 June 1003, made several grants of land to St. Peter's.
Following the death of Hugh Capet in in 996, Rozalla was formally repudiated and divorced by Robert.
In the Annales Elnonenses, Rozala's death is recorded in 1003. A Latin poem in memory of her death says that she died on 7 February. Rozala of Italy, countess of Flanders (and briefly queen of the Franks) is buried in St. Peter's Abbey, Ghent, next to her first husband.
By the way, after repudiating Rozala, Robert "the Pious" had a long and sordid marital career. He entered into an incestuous marriage with Bertha of Burgundy, then repudiated her, and then married Constance of Arles--who was eighteen when he was thirty-two. Hmmm. Although she did give him children, he also wanted to get rid of her . . . If you'd like to read more, click here.
And you may also be interested in reading a bit about Rozala's father, who had his own adventures in marriage, attempting to force the widowed Adelaide of Burgundy into marrying his son, Rozala's brother Adalbert.
All I can say is: traditional marriage! Yikes!
*One of the most reliable sources I've found is the genealogical information made available by the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, which I've linked to several times throughout this post.
**In "Sept femmes et un trio de rois," Dhondt examines why this marriage would have been politically advantageous for Hugh Capet. He also provides documentary evidence for why Rozala was likely born before 962 (when her father was dethroned), and suggests that it would have been highly unlikely, even given his political considerations, that Hugh would have forced his son into a marriage with a woman who was too old to bear an heir.
